New Orleans – Understanding how millennials work can help retailers reach them, and one seminar at the American Gem Society’s Conclave 2015 helped to identify just who these consumers are.
Jeff Fromm of FutureCast presented “Marketing to Millennials” at Conclave on Wednesday, outlining seven millennial “truths” and guiding retailers on how to market and capture the unique and informed generation.
Fromm began with the stats on millennials, typically identified as those born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s. This generation makes up roughly 25 percent of the population, and 6 million have an income of more than $100,000 a year.
“Millennials have a different schema,” Fromm said. “It’s not linear like it used to be; school, job, marriage, house, family. They’ll do those things, but not necessarily in that order.”
Millennials also get more excited about brands that are “cool,” and driving their love is a brand’s uniqueness, meaningfulness, innovation and authenticity.
Fromm also identified eight “truths” of Millennials, to better help retailers understand how they experience brands and perceive information.
1. Millennials are “pro-sumer” or consumer partners. Many consumers are passive but millennials are not. They want to be involved with a brand.